Funded Research Projects

International
Grants and Research Funding

2013-2015GBP £380,000
awarded by the Australian Government's AusAIDStudy/project
title: 'The Role of Secondary Schooling and Gender Norms in the Long-term
Opportunities and Choices of Rural Bangladeshi Women'. (Principal
Investigator: Dr Zaki Wahhaj, Kent University)
Brief overview: This project aims to document the long-term impact of the female secondary school stipend scheme, introduced in the mid-1990s in Bangladesh. Our research is also expected to inform existing government and NGO interventions that are targeted at female adolescents and tackle issues such as early marriage.

2011-2012GBP £44,000
awarded by the Leverhulme Trust (fellowship scheme)Study/project
title: The Rise of Islamic Schools in BangladeshBrief
overview: This is a follow-up to the QSSMEB project. I wrote three new research
papers on madrasa education in Bangladesh using QSSMEB data. For cross
validation purpose, new secondary datasets have been also used. These papers
shed light on demand and supply side aspects of Islamic education in the
country. The main objective was to address the following research questions:
(a) What are the strategic motivations for location choices of madrasas? Do they target educationally underdeveloped (e.g. fewer public
schools) areas and/or economically poor regions? Or do they follow for-profit
schools and choose locations for practical reasons? (b) How do adolescents in
unrecognized madrasas differ from those in non-religious schools and
state-regulated madrasas in terms of socio-economic attitudes? Do teachers
serve as a conduit for norm transmission to pupils? (c) Revisit the question of student learning in Maths and English in
madrasas (unrecognized and state-regulated) vis-a-vis state-supported schools. Full version
of the research papers will be available soon as working papers. Findings from this project has recently featured on Al Jazeera. Recently, I gave a talk entitled "Madrasas in Bangladesh: Literacy and Social Capital" at the speakers Forum on "FAITH AND EDUCATION: Contestations around the Madrasa in Bangladesh" organized jointly by at BRAC and Georgetown Universities.

2010GBP £9,000 awarded
by the International Growth Centre (IGC)Study/project
title: Bangladesh's
path to social developmentBrief
overview: Once dubbed a bottomless basket, Bangladesh has achieved rapid and
spectacular improvements in many social development indicators during the last
two decades. Within South Asia, Bangladesh has improved its position ahead of
India and Pakistan in a number of human development indicators although its per
capita income is still significantly below the regional average. Bangladesh’s
developmental achievements may appear as a ‘development puzzle’, given the
country’s desperate initial conditions, still widespread poverty and allegedly
poor record in governance adversely affecting the quality of public service
delivery. The issue has attracted considerable media
attention. This project takes another look at the significance of
Bangladesh’s human development progress in a cross-country framework. Future
challenges are also identified. Related
policy briefsBangladesh’s
Achievements in Social Development IndicatorsGovernance and growth

2009GBP £9,000
awarded by the International Growth Centre (IGC)Study/project
title:Economics of madrasa schoolsBrief
overview: Bangladesh has made significant progress in increasing access to
secondary education over the past decade, especially for girls. However, recent
evaluations of student performance in subjects such as Mathematics and English
highlight an overall low level of achievement in schools in rural Bangladesh,
as well as a wide variation in the quality of education across schools. While
this is not surprising given that schools differ in terms of resources,
educational inputs and organization, a further potential institutional
determinant of quality is the religious orientation of schools. This study examines the factors that lead to enrolment in registered madrasas in
Bangladesh instead of non-religious state-aided schools. In particular, we test
whether madrasa enrolment is driven by economic considerations or religious
preference of the household. The study findings have been published in Bulletin
of Economic Research. Full version of the paper is also available as IZA working paper.

2008US
$ 100,000 awarded by the World Bank (Principal Investigator: Dr Nazmul
Chaudhury)Study/project
title: Secondary School Madrasa Education in Bangladesh (QSSMEB)Brief
overview: Bangladesh is home to a rapidly growing number of madrasas. However,
systematic evidence on these Islamic schools is scarce. To fill this knowledge
gap, the World Bank sponsored the first ever systematic field survey on
secondary madrasa and non-madrasa schools in rural Bangladesh. Both registered
(Aliyah) and un-registered (Quomi) madrasas have been surveyed. The project not
only documented overall size of the madrasa sector (in terms of their market
share in the population of primary and secondary school-going children), it
also gathered information on the quality of education imparted therein.
Detailed data on institutional characteristics of madrassa and non-madrassa
schools have been also gathered along with socio-economic attitudes of teachers
and students. The survey included 403 secondary schools and madrasas. The
research team interviewed over 9000 students and their teachers and also
visited a large number of households to gather information on reasons for
household school choice and cognitive outcomes of children from different
educational systems. Preliminary findings of the study led to a report entitled
“Secondary
School Madrasas in Bangladesh: Incidence, Quality, and Implications for Reform”
launched in August 10, 2010 by
Ellen Goldstein, Country Director, The World Bank Dhaka at the Launch of
the QSSMEB report. For a copy of the press release, click
here and here. To widely disseminate the study
findings, I also organized a symposium "Madrasa
education in Bangladesh: implications for economic development " in
the 2011 UKFIET conference, held in Oxford, UK. Ongoing studies using QSSMEB data include:Inequality of opportunity at school in rural Bangladesh: to what extent are pupils’ efforts shaped by family background? (joint with Sandy Tabeuf, Alain Trannoy, and Gaston Yalonetzky)

2004US
$ 20,000 awarded by South Asia Network of Economic Research Institutes (SANEI)Study/project
title: Private schools in Bangladesh and PakistanBrief
overview: This project explores the effectiveness of private schools in
Bangladesh using labor market data. Wages of private and public school
graduates are analyzed. Comparison is also made to Pakistan where private
schools have a strong presence.